Researchers and scholars of Shadow Puppetry claim that the first were the Chinese people, who, by watching the shadows of people and objects appearing behind an illuminated paper at night, created this type of theater, and from there it spread to the peoples of Middle East, of the Ottoman Empire, and, about the 16th century, – to Greece. The others, however, claim that its roots are in the Eleusinian mysteries.
The Greek Karagiozis symbolizes the spirit of freedom and the resistance of the people against the dynastic principle. It symbolizes the principles of freedom, justice, philosophy and dignity. His face embodies the common struggle of the Greeks against servitude, against the allegiance to the foreign oppressor of the Turkish Ottoman, and at the same time represents the low social layers of society, which as such are poor, unemployed, hungry, illiterate, resourceful, brilliant, unforgiving , dynamic, intelligent, persistent, but at the same time a dreamer, full of fantasy and optimistic.
Many puppeteers shaped this versatile hero according to each epoch, creating a kind of favorite and popular theater. The same was first made in Cyprus by Christodoulos Paphios, and later by his grandson Christodoulos Paphios, who, continuing the work of his grandfather, travels around his home country and the whole world – wherever he has been called to, giving the shadow theater performances.
Willing still to offer something more to the preservation and propagation of this popular spectacle, the grandson Christodoulos Paphios established his own folk museum of Shadow Puppetry with the only purpose to preserve, protect and promote in every way one of the most important elements of our cultural heritage that represents the folk theater, namely – Karagiozis.
The Shadow Puppetry Museum in Chloraka is housed in a privately-owned old house next to the central square, in the same old building where the first puppeteer, Christodoulos Paphios, used to give theatrical performances. Today the same old building, a bequest to his grandson, was used by the inheritor Christodoulos as a housing space for old figures, and is now the museum of Karagiozis of Chloraka and all Cyprus.
Visitors to the Chloraka Shadow Puppetry Museum are entranced by the colors of the figures, the playful expression of the physiognomy of the characters and the plenty of figures that have been hand-made by their creators – the forefather Christodoulos Paphios, and the heir – Christodoulos Paphios.
Thanks to the cardboard figures the visitors can learn the history of Shadow Theater and Cypriot Karagiozis from 1900 until today.
Among the exhibits in the Museum halls:
Paintings created by forefather Christodoulos Paphios.
Beauteous figures of puppets made of cardboard – true expression of the art of Cyprian Shadow Puppetry.
Scenery and décor hand-painted by the two artists.
Tools and materials for shadow puppets.
Special effects for creating sounds, noises, music and generally audio-visual motion.
